How To Quantify ROI On Mobile

The Problem

Allocating marketing budget is a difficult task, with multiple teams and channels vying for as much of the cut as possible. Today’s CMO, therefore, needs to be absolutely sure that the decisions they make are right for the business, and that means having a clear understanding of ROI. If mobile marketing is to command budget, we need to understand what ROI looks like, and how we calculate it.

The Solution

Defining and calculating ROI on mobile is a challenge. But understanding the areas in which mobile marketing can deliver value, and then getting a handle on what sort of scale those benefits can take is something that is definitely achievable. This Blueprint is here to help you do just that.

Establish Baseline Metrics

The first step is to establish core metrics that matter to you. Figure out what the numbers are that matter to you: MAU, revenue, retention, engagement, conversion (to name the obvious ones).

Once you have established your metrics, track your performance, and especially how your mobile marketing impacts ROI.

Moving The Needle

Once you have established these metrics, you can start moving them. Think about, and calculate, which numbers are the most effective ones to move.

For example: how many extra users would be delivered, and thus how much extra revenue, if day 7 retention was increased by 10%? Or if instead of 7 out of 10 carts being abandoned, you moved this to 6?

Understanding these numbers help quantify the ROI of your mobile marketing campaigns.

Holdout Groups

Isolate a holdput group so that a certain group of users are not subjected to any campaigns at all. This means that you can compare metrics between those who are delivered campaigns, and those who are not.

By taking this approach it is possible to establish a clear ROI on the sum of your activity, rather than analyzing campaigns individually.

Case Study Part 1

A major, global magazine publisher wished to increase total subscribers. But the organization wasn’t sure if money was best spent on traditional acquisition, or migrating app users on a free trial to a paid subscription.

The organization sketched out the numbers behind each approach before realizing that the latter option was more promising in ROI terms

Case Study Part 2

A large-scale campaign, based on user actions and behaviors, targeted users with subscription campaigns. The individual messages focused on areas of individual interest to readers, delivered at the optimal time.

Combined with an optimized and A/B tested onboarding process, this campaign increased subscription rates by 49% - and vindicated the initial decision to focus on this area